Editorial: An increasingly coarse world slinks just a little lower

In this photo taken on Monday, June 16, 2014, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti talks to the crowd during the Los Angeles King’s Stanley Cup hockey championship rally at Staples Center in Los Angelese. Mayor Garcetti used the F-bomb in declaring it a big day for LA, bringing 19,000 hockey fans to their feet, lighting up the Twitterverse in delight and, leaving some folks scratching their heads, wondering just what the heck the normally soft-spoken elected official was thinking. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Daily News, David Crane)

In our mania to seize and exult in our personal 15 minutes of fame, what was once considered shameful is now lauded.

What was once considered private is now aired for all to view.

What was once considered unthinkable becomes “chic” or “cool.”

The outrageous slouches toward the mundane.

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The results are not pretty -- a coarser public dialog littered with questionable language and actions that once would make a sailor blush.

It is the reason we are inundated with the most personal, intimate conversations in the produce aisle of the supermarket, or while riding the trolley, or standing in line in the convenience store.

It is why people caught in the most outrageous of circumstances no longer hang their heads in shame, but instead seek out the nearest microphone or camera to share their regrettable actions.

It is why we make celluloid heroes of any number of miscreants flaunting their questionable personal peccadilloes on reality TV shows.

And it is why we are numbed at the site of young people routinely videotaping their most personal or even criminal actions, then posting them on social media for the world to consume.

But nowhere is this nosedive in search of the lowest common denominator more evident than in our everyday language.

Forget “Orange is the New Black.” Blue is the new hue.

Utterances that once would have resulted in the quaint notion of washing an offender’s mouth out with soap has now become part of our everyday vernacular.

The S-word that rhymes with duck slowly but surely has morphed into the national vocabulary, and no one blinks an eye.

Then, of course, there is the world’s most popular four-letter word, which also rhymes with duck. All of us likely have uttered it in private or under our breath. But blurting it out in public, once considered the ultimate in etiquette faux pas, is now just another aspect in our increasing coarse interaction.

And it’s no longer reserved for private utterances, or even heated altercations. Now it is casually tossed out there in all its offensiveness, an assault on our ears and decency, by everyday citizens and public officials alike.

A few years back, as the Phillies nation exulted in a World Series title, Chase Utley deemed it the appropriate moment to take to the mic at a packed Citizens Bank Park and declare the Phils the “world F------ champions.”

For those who would excuse away such language, pointing to pop music and its ever-coarser current, we would merely shake our heads. And try to hold our tongues.

But it’s not just athletes, or faux pop culture icons.

A few years back, Vice President Joe Biden was captured on an open mic telling President Obama, as he was set to sign into law the Affordable Care Act, “this is a big F------” Say it ain’t so, Joe.

Maybe there’s something about microphones. Or sports celebrations.

Or maybe not. In Los Angeles this week, they were holding the official party after the L.A. Kings captured their second Stanley Cup in three years. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti decided to spice up his remarks just a tad. After noting that there are “two rules in politics,” those being never getting caught with a drink in your hand, and never swearing, he promptly went blue. “But this is big F------ day. Way to go, guys.”

Another public F-bomb.

He’s no doubt will not be the last politician to utter this most regrettable four-letter word.

The danger, of course, is that such routine use dulls its offensive nature.

Noted pop culture historian Robert J. Thompson indicates the F-bomb is becoming so commonplace as to soon reside beside other once-unforgivable utterances such as “hell” and “damn.”

“Within 30 years, I think it’s going to be almost completely neutered,” he said.

We hope he’s wrong.

It’s not hip, or chic.

It’s just offensive.

Luckily, most of know where to draw the line with such outbursts.

Apparently Eric Garcetti does not.

The shame is not in an occasional slip of the tongue. We’re all guilty of that. The shame is the belief that such coarse public dialog somehow makes us cool.

Coarse? Absolutely. Cool? Hardly.

Language matters. It’s a powerful, beautiful thing. When we debase it with crude offerings, we lower ourselves, and those around us.